NEW YORK — Advocates for homeless New Yorkers say a proposal now in the state Legislature could drastically reduce and prevent homelessness across the state.

There now are about 60,000 people living in homeless shelters in New York, and the cost of keeping a family in a welfare hotel can be $3,500 a month or more. According to Marc Greenberg, executive director of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, the housing allowance currently given to people on public assistance simply isn't enough to cover the cost of a habitable apartment.

"This Home Stability Support would raise the level of the shelter allowance to around 85 percent of the prevailing rents in a particular area, and then the cities could make up the difference,” Greenberg said.

Home Stability Support is included in the Democrat-controlled state Assembly's budget plan, but may face opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Greenberg said Home Stability Support would target people who receive public assistance and those in danger of becoming homeless, helping them stay in their homes.

"People could continue to work and their kids could continue to go to school and people would continue to have their support system,” he said, "as opposed to being pulled up from one place to another place where they don't know anyone, they can't really live a full life."

The plan approved by the Assembly would be phased in over five years with an initial state investment of $40 million.

The New York City Comptroller estimated the plan could reduce the city's shelter population by 80 percent for families with children and 60 percent for adult families over ten years.

Greenberg said he believes approval of the measure should go beyond politics.

"It makes sense, it saves money and it also saves lives,” he said. "There’s really no reason to vote against it except to use it as a bargaining chip for something else."

Last week, 95 faith leaders from 15 cities across the state signed a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo urging him to support the plan.


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In the past two years, homelessness in America has risen only 1%, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - which nonetheless reports a divide between urban and rural areas. In New Mexico, homelessness declined by one-third in the past decade, according to a summary delivered to state lawmakers by the Legislative Finance Committee.

Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, said having enough rent to stay housed requires finding a job that pays a decent wage - often harder in rural areas - where even a 10-mile distance can be a huge barrier.

"To get from a place that's affordable to live to a job that pays a living wage - if you don't have a vehicle - there's just not the public transportation infrastructure or any way to get there," he said.

New Mexico's emergency homeless shelter capacity has more than doubled since 2016, with progress especially noted in Albuquerque. The report to the Legislature showed that on any given night, New Mexico has about 2,600 people who are homeless.

Like many other states, the supply of affordable housing in New Mexico has declined - by 50% over a recent 20 year period, according to the recent report. That makes finding housing especially tough for individuals struggling with mental health and substance-abuse issues, and in those cases treatment is often only available in larger cities such as like Albuquerque or Santa Fe, according to Olivet.

"In many rural parts of the country, rural New Mexico for example - where's there's just massive distance, even if they're wanting to get treatment, ready to go into treatment - there's no place available within 100-miles, 200 miles," he said.

The HUD report showed during the pandemic, economic stressors and the dramatic increase in rental costs drove homelessness upward, but large investments by states and the federal government through the American Rescue Plan reduced the overall numbers nationwide.

The Nevada Housing Justice Alliance, tenants, lawmakers and community leaders gathered at a news conference outside the Capitol in Carson City this week to rally for legislation to expand legal protections for renters and increase rent control.

According to lawmakers, Nevada rent prices soared above the rest of the country last year. They said access to affordable housing is a top issue facing families.

Assmeblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong, D-Las Vegas, said her bill, Assembly Bill 340, intends to change the summary eviction process. Currently in order to challenge an eviction in Nevada, tenants must make the first court filing. She said changing this would allow renters a chance to defend themselves.

"Something must be done," she said. "We cannot move forward another legislative session pretending like we don't have a crisis. We have a crisis."

Summers-Armstrong said her bill aims to change the procedure so that landlords would first have to go to court to have a tenant evicted, and provide them with plenty of notice to answer the complaint. She said it creates a more "fair legal process."

There are a number of bills that aim to provide solutions to what some see as an afforable housing crisis. Sen. Pat Spearman, D-North Las Vegas, said her bill, Senate Bill 363, prioritizes housing for women veterans, women who were formerly incarcerated, those recovering from domestic violence - and senior women who are housing insecure.

"They are four times more likely to not have a place to stay than their peers," she said. "As a matter of fact, those four groups are the highest, the fastest-growing, homeless groups in the United States."

Spearman and other lawmakers are pushing for legislation to keep some of the state's lowest-income residents housed, while also aiming to prevent an eviction crisis as federal dollars distributed for rental assistance during the pandemic are set to expire.

A recent report examines Connecticut's eviction crisis and addresses some solutions to it. The report from Connecticut Voices for Children finds 39% of renters in the state who were not current on rent payments felt they would be evicted in the next two months. That rate was higher for Black and Latino renters, reaching 54% and 56% respectively. The report also finds high absenteeism rates correlate to some kids facing housing insecurity. But, the report takes a look at some short-term policy recommendations to help renters in the state.

Samaila Adelaiye, research and policy fellow with Connecticut Voices for Children, said one of the primary areas of focus was income support.

"When it comes to income and income equivalent supports, we make recommendations for making the Connecticut property tax credit fully refundable and available to renters. Because while renters indirectly pay property taxes, they do not have access to relief through Connecticut's property tax credit," Adelaiye said.

He added they support different pieces of legislation addressing tenant protections. Other recommendations in the report include increasing funding for rental assistance, making a state child tax credit permanent, and sustaining funding for the state's Right to Counsel program. This report is one of a two-part series; the second report will address more long-term solutions.

Although the report provides avenues for alleviating Connecticut's eviction crisis, there are additional questions it raises. Adelaiye noted most of these revolve around renters in the state having enough money for other necessities outside of rent. He said there are numerous issues coming out of the state's housing crisis.

"We know that evictions particularly are the product of the housing affordability crisis is causing more socio-economic harm, increasing financial strain leading in some cases to homelessness."

From here, Adelaiye said the high cost of housing must be addressed, with rent caps being one way to do that. Currently, Connecticut Senate Bill 4 would have included a rent cap, but that was eliminated while the bill was in committee. However, should the bill pass, it will allow for a series of tenant protections including a winter eviction moratorium, making it illegal to evict anyone from December through March.